ALBANY – Cable customers who temporarily lose service would no longer automatically receive a credit on their bills under a regulation being considered by the state, The Post has learned.

The proposed rule change, deemed by consumer groups as a “gift” from the Pataki administration to the cable industry, would also give companies longer exclusive community franchise agreements and impose fewer reporting standards.

“The governor should pull the plug on this proposal,” said Blair Horner, of the New York Public Interest Research Group. “It’s far too generous to the cable companies with no real justification.”

Assemblyman Richard Brodsky – who chairs the Assembly Corporations Committee that oversees the Public Service Commission, which is proposing the changes – called the plan “inexplicable and horrendous.”

“It just gives license to the cable companies to continue abusing their customers,” said Brodsky, who vowed to get his committee involved and push for public hearings on the matter.

But David Flanagan, spokesman for the PSC, defended the recommendations as “sensible reforms.”

Currently, consumers receive an automatic credit for a service outage that exceeds four continuous hours and happens, at least in part, during the peak hours of 6 p.m. to midnight.

But under the regulation proposed by the PSC, a credit for service outage would only be automatically granted if the service is interrupted for at least 24 continuous hours.

Customers who lose service for at least four hours, but less than 24, would have to make an oral or written application for a credit within three months of the outage.

Consumer advocates and some lawmakers fear the change would take away the incentive for cable companies to make quick repairs.

But Flanagan said many customers may not even be watching TV during an outage and thus shouldn’t automatically be in line for a refund.